Editorial Last week, I saw an ambulance with a laptop mounted between the seats. It faced the passenger side. I said, "I'm glad the driver doesn't use it while driving, like the cops do," but I was told that's sometimes done in ambulances too.
In the cops' case, they're constantly typing in license plate numbers they see, on the off chance it will be a stolen car or the driver will be wanted. Contrary to what you see on TV and in movies, cops typically drive alone -- so they're typing with one hand while driving with the other! Needless to say, that's dangerous.
Today's NY Times has an article on this, "Driven to Distraction: Gadgets in Emergency Vehicles Seen as Peril."
In the cops' case, they're constantly typing in license plate numbers they see, on the off chance it will be a stolen car or the driver will be wanted. Contrary to what you see on TV and in movies, cops typically drive alone -- so they're typing with one hand while driving with the other! Needless to say, that's dangerous.
Today's NY Times has an article on this, "Driven to Distraction: Gadgets in Emergency Vehicles Seen as Peril."
True story: DisasterMan's grandmother was killed by an ambulance running her over. Also, DM's mother could have been killed (but fortunately wasn't) when an unmarked police car slammed into her. Hundreds of people are killed in high speed police chases every year, and many are bystanders. For that reason, many departments now ban chases except for felonies. It's not worth someone dying over unpaid parking tickets or an illegal U-turn.
And that's without the laptop issue. Some departments, like Montgomery County, have a voice synthesizer to read things aloud, so the driver can look at the screen less. But still there's the typing.
Seems like there's a simple answer: voice recognition software. For example, Dragon NaturallySpeaking
is available for $50-$100. Some departments already use it or something similar. So why don't ours?
